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The McLaren MCL32 could receive a performance boost from Honda this week. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Report: Honda to deliver McLaren F1 an engine upgrade in Baku

The team has struggled this season and risks losing the services of Fernando Alonso

June 19, 2017

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Honda appears set to deliver a much-needed engine upgrade this weekend in Baku.

In Canada just over a week ago, the McLaren F1 leadership admitted their frustration was at a boiling point after the team's hapless partner failed to deliver an upgrade as scheduled. Honda's F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa then said he could not promise it would even be ready for the following race in Azerbaijan.

But he has now told the Japanese publication Sportiva that help is on the way this week.

"There will be some kind of improvement in the combustion engine in Baku," Hasegawa said. "I don't know if you can call it specification three, but we'll definitely introduce something, even if it is intermediate."

The report said Honda has been working hard on "specification three" at its facility in Sakura to address the current power unit's problems, including excessive vibration and a 90-hp performance deficit. But Hasegawa played down hopes the new engine will completely end Honda's 2017 troubles.

"If you improve the combustion engine, the temperature of the exhaust decreases by being more efficient, which reduces the energy recovered through the turbo and MGU-H, making it necessary to change these parts too," he said. "The situation is more complicated than people can imagine."

The outcome of Honda's latest efforts to improve could be the final straw for the McLaren partnership -- and the next turning point in the career of Fernando Alonso.

"Due to some of his decisions, Fernando could be remembered as one of the lost talents of F1," former Honda F1 team boss Nick Fry is quoted by Spain's La Sexta.